La naissance des oasis (Programme)

In a small town plunged into darkness, two children, Kyona and Adriel, are separated from their parents and, facing the path of exile alone, embark on a heroic journey that will take them from childhood to adolescence, in search of refuge, peace and the hope of finding their family.

Suzie is a little girl who goes with her mother and dad to an allotment outside the city. One day she meets a black dog and discovers a mysterious garden. Who is it that lives there? Suzie is a little afraid. But what to do when you are afraid of someone, but you find their key on the path?

The film based on the poem by Aimé Césair was created for a series of one-minute-long films inspired by the poems of this French poet commemorating the 100th anniversary of his birth. The French original was narrated by Jacques Martial with music composed by François Causse and produced by MAUR film for the company La Maison Garage. The Czech version was translated by the French poet and translator Bertrand Schmitt and narrated for the cinema by actor Viktor Preiss. The film was animated with the demanding technique of oil painted on glass directly in front of the camera and the production in the Anima studio took almost three months during this spring. The same technique will be used for an animated co-production film directed by the French director Florence Miailhe with Lucie Sunková as the main animator.

Lucie Sunková’s short film The Tree is a metaphorical story about the parallels in lives of people and trees, a lyrical poem about birth and death, about the flow of our time and the nature surrounding us, a parable about parenthood and crossing the boundaries of a human (not only) life. It is a story about relations, seeming hopelessness and a happy promise. Used paint-on-glass technique, a pure poetic means of expression ideal for a story like this, forms another metaphoric layer of the film withs its laboriousness and graphic style. The budget of this co-production reached almost 150 thousand EUR and was almost evenly divided between MAUR film and French production company Les Films de l’Arlequin. Both sides were supported by their respective national funds – State Cinematography Fund in the Czech Republic and the prestigious national fund CNC – Centre National du Cinema in France.